Vantaggi
Great clients (particularly in Silicon Valley), great case experience. Lawyers were generally very bright and hardworking. Some major stand-out partners providing good mentorship and feedback. As good as any Biglaw firm to get your chops out of law school.
Svantaggi
With a few exceptions, partners in my department were not interested in developing associate talent. I witnessed many associates being driven out instead of being developed, and this occurred more often with the female associates. There is a "blue collared shirt/khaki" club that dominates several practice groups. Working hours were long, billable pressure significant, but that is to be expected of any Biglaw firm. There were several rounds of layoffs during my time - they called them "performance based" reductions - but everyone knew the truth.